Waking up in another world

A massive yellow chandelier hanging in the middle of the ceiling was the first thing that caught my attention as my eyes slowly opened.

“What the hell…?” I muttered, still half asleep. Drowsiness was the only thing that prevented me from realizing the problem with what my eyes were looking at, but that dissipated quickly, causing me to jump out of bed in shock as soon as I was fully awake.

What the hell was a chandelier doing, hanging here? My eyes darted back and forth across the bedroom. The chandelier should have been a dead giveaway, but a quick scan of my surroundings confirmed to me that this wasn’t my room. A metal desk, purple curtains, a gold carpet, a large closet….what the hell was all of this? Furthermore, the room was so big that the space between everything felt really unnatural, and the fact that it seemed like everything was crammed into its own corner didn’t help. It was something I wasn’t used to at all, as if I had just been dropped into some rich person’s mansion.

I got out of the bed that was twice as big as the one I was used to, immediately falling to my knees. Not because of the bed, mind you, but because my legs couldn’t hold out any longer. My heart pounded furiously, sweat poured from my forehead, and every muscle in my body weighed down on it, refusing to move an inch due to the wave of exhaustion that instantly washed over me. Sitting on the floor to catch my breath was the only option available, and I did so for a few minutes until I felt I was rested enough, despite having literally just woken up and done nothing.

“What the hell is this place?” I once again muttered, but this time I realized that my voice was different. “Wait, what?” I spoke out loud again to confirm it, and sure enough, my voice had changed. It was at a much higher pitch than usual. Wondering if there was a mirror available to confirm my suspicion, I walked over to the closet, opened it, and found one.

The body that reflected was not mine, it was one I didn’t recognize at all. My black hair had turned completely blonde, my brown eyes were now clear blue, and worst of all, I was a lot shorter than I used to be. Plus, I had no facial hair at all, and it’s not like it was shaved clean, it was obvious that there was nothing to shave in the first place. This body looked extremely feminine, but it was clearly male, I could tell due to some very obvious reasons.

Wait a minute, did I just get Isekai’d? I thought to myself. But…there’s no way that’s possible, this surely has to be a dream!

The metal desk in the corner of the room that I’d seen earlier caught my eye. I walked over and tapped it with a finger testing if it really was made out of actual metal, and sure enough, it was. I then picked up the notebook that sat on it. A name was written on the front: Arthur Barnaby. So that was the name of the person whose body I incarnated into, huh? I opened up the notebook to the first page, and closely examined its contents.

Instructions to reach Winterbury University:

-Take the train from Easthill station to Winterbury station

-Exit Winterbury station from the south exit (NOT North)

-Walk straight until you reach a four-way crossroads, turn to the left

-Keep walking straight for a few minutes, until you reach the university

P.S. Make sure to leave house extra early, before 7:00 am. Must NOT be late on first day, first impression is key

Damn it, so I really did get Isekai’d….I don’t recognize any of these names, so this must be a fantasy world. I mean, Winterbury, really? That sounds like something ripped straight out of your typical fantasy novel,at least have a little more creativity than that!

So this Arthur fellow was about to start university, huh? Pretty tough, to have someone else randomly invade your body like this for literally no reason. I guess I’ll take care of things for him.

I took a glance at the digital clock which read 7:14 am. Well, at least they’ve got some decent tech in this world, if they’ve got digital clocks…

Shit! The note said to leave before 7! It’s 7:14, and I’m still in my pyjamas! Damnit, run, Jack, run! Wait, no, not Jack, Arthur. My name is Arthur Barnaby from now on, at least until I figure out a way to get back.

Rushing back to the closet, I picked out a suit that had clearly been prepared the night before, since it hung from the knob. Trying not to waste any more time, I sprinted out of my room and washed up. Luckily, the bathroom was right in front of me when I exited, so I ended up not having to run around this huge house. My suit fit perfectly on me, obviously, but I felt extremely uncomfortable, as this was the first time I’d ever worn one in my life. I was going to have to walk around all day like this?

Heading back inside the room, I noticed a small bag sitting on the floor near the desk. It was already full, it seems Arthur had already prepared it ahead of time, so all I had to do was place the notebook that was on the desk inside and zip it up.

I ran down the stairs into the main hall, ignoring the rest of the house as much as I can, since I would have probably ended up staring in awe had I stopped, and came face to face with what seemed to be a maid. As I thought, Arthur was an extremely wealthy person, from his bedroom, to this huge house, to his suits, and now a maid.

“Master Arthur, I prepared breakfast for you at 6:00 am and placed it on the living room table, just like you instructed me last night, but it got cold.” She said politely. “Shall I reheat it for you?”

“No, thank you.” I answered. “I’m afraid that I’m running very late, I shall have a bite or two, I can’t afford to dawdle.”

I turned my head to a large room on my right, with a large table, and saw a plate in front of the head seat. As I’d told the maid, I only had two bites of the exquisite omelet she had prepared for me while simultaneously ignoring all the paintings and extravagance that was laid out all around me. It took all of my willpower to resist the urge to eat the entire meal, but I didn’t want to ruin Arthur’s first day at university, so I begrudgingly left it, thanking the maid as I power walked out the hallway and opened the front door.

“Master Arthur, you’ve forgotten your key!” She yelled from the other end of the corridor, pointing to a small rack, where the key laid.

“Right, right, thank you for reminding me, it seems my rush has caused me to become quite forgetful.” I grabbed the key, locked the door, and started sprinting before immediately stopping after less than 5 seconds, remembering that the university I was about to attend was supposedly a prestigious one, according to everything I’d seen so far. So arriving there completely soaked with sweat would be a far worse fate than simply arriving late, thus I slowed down to a walk.

I turned back and observed the house I had just exited. No, not a house, this was a straight-up mansion! I couldn’t believe it, the whole thing stretched out to the point it felt like it was a building laid upside down! There were only two floors, but I only now realized that I’d gotten extremely lucky not to have gotten lost. Had my room not been located directly in front of the bathroom with the stairway directly on the left, I might still be trying to make my way around the place.

I was surprised by the huge amount of windows, there was probably one for each room, so that made sense. But the casing clearly looked of a fine quality, even to a naked eye, such as mine. However, despite my amateur, or more precisely, nonexistent experience with windows, I could tell that they were incredibly expensive.

As I kept walking across the sidewalk, a realization suddenly hit me: I had no clue where Easthill station was! Following the instructions left in the notebook was my plan to reach the university, but he hadn’t written down Easthill station’s location! The reason for that was most likely because Arthur knew where it was located like the back of his hand, so of course there was no need to write it down, unlike the university. I, however, had no clue where the hell I was. I thought about asking someone for directions, but didn’t want to make a fool of myself, in case I just so happened to engage in conversation with anyone who was acquainted with Arthur.

I decided to risk it and stopped a person who was walking in the opposite direction. Luckily, they seemed not to know who I was, so I didn’t have a need to act in a certain way to imitate Arthur, as if I even could, as I had no idea what his character was like.

“Excuse me,” I asked the man politely. “Would it be possible for you to kindly point me in the direction of Easthill station, please?”

“Sure, no problem.” He responded. “I’m actually heading there myself, so why don’t you come with me?”

I nodded and followed alongside him. He was a young man, probably a few years older than Arthur was, and also wore a suit, so I assumed he was also part of the wealthy elite. I hoped he wouldn’t start any conversation with me, as I wouldn’t know what to say.

“So, this is your first day attending Winterbury, huh?’ My hopes were instantly dashed as the man posed me this question.

“Uh, yeah, how did you know?”

The man laughed as if I’d said something funny.

“It’s simple, the suit.” He answered. “No one other than current students or alumni have access to them, and the fact that you don’t know where Easthill is shows that you’re new around these parts, thus I deduced that you’re a new student.”

“Oh, I see, makes sense.” I nodded.

“What’s your name?” He continued.

“Arthur…Arthur Barnaby.” I’d hesitated for a split second but decided to just come out and say it, as not giving it would be seen as suspicious.

“I see. Well, Arthur, it’s actually my little sister's first day there as well, I was just on my way to the station to accompany her there. You wouldn’t mind riding the train with us, would you?”

“No, not at all.” I accepted, wondering If I’d come to regret doing that.

“Thank you, I’ll introduce you to her when we get there.”